Continuity of government
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'''Continuity of government''' ('''COG''') is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a [[government]] to continue its essential operations in case of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] or other catastrophic event. COG was developed by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] during [[World War II]] to counter the threat of [[Luftwaffe]] bombing during the [[Battle of Britain]]. The need for continuity-of-government plans gained new urgency with [[nuclear proliferation]]. Countries during the [[Cold War]] and afterwards developed such plans in the event of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] to avoid confusion and disorder in a [[power vacuum]] in the aftermath of a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear attack]].
==Continuity of government in the United States==
{{main|Continuity of Operations Plan}}
* Each facility is counterpart to its peacetime equivalent.
** [[Site R]] (Raven Rock) → [[The Pentagon]] ([[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]])
** [[Mount Weather]] → [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]]
** [[Camp David]] → [[Executive Office of the President]]
** Unknown → [[United States Congress]] ([[The Greenbrier]] was to be used until 1992, when it was decommissioned)
** [[National Audio-Visual Conservation Center]] (Mount Pony) → [[United States Department of the Treasury|Department of Treasury]]/[[Federal Reserve]] (Sold off in 1997 to the National Audiovisual Conservation Center, no longer part of the Continuity of government).
** [[Cheyenne Mountain]] → [[North American Aerospace Defense Command]] (NORAD)
* Also, mobile systems are used for additional command and control.
** E-4, E-135, EC-130, and E-6 are all airborne command centers.
**[[Air Force One]] is the term for any [[USAF]] plane the [[President of the United States]] travels on. However, the term normally refers to a [[Boeing VC-25]]A the President normally uses. While the VC-25A is equipped with numerous systems to ensure its survival, in an emergency, it would be recommended that he use the [[National Airborne Operations Center]], a [[Boeing E-4]] specially built to serve as a survivable mobile command post. The [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] may also use it, as a member of the [[National Command Authority]]. It is also possible that the President would authorize the [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] to use it, depending on the circumstances.
**An [[E-6 Mercury]], codenamed ''Looking Glass'', is [[USSTRATCOM]]'s Airborne Command Post, designed to take over in case [[NORAD]]'s [[Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center]] is destroyed or incapable of communicating with strategic forces.
**NORAD owns and operates a mobile vehicular command center
* [[National Program Office]] was established as a shadow government by the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration.
==Continuity of government in France==
The Centre d'Opération des Forces Aériennes Stratégiques (COFAS) is a hardened command center for French nuclear forces in [[Taverny]], [[Val d'Oise]]. The alternate national command center is located at Mont Verdun near [[Lyon]].
The hardened headquarters of Force Océanique Stratégique (FOST), France's nuclear [[SSBN]] fleet, is at [[Houilles]], [[Yvelines]].
==Continuity of government in the United Kingdom==
The primary British COG headquarters is at the Ministry of Defence in [[Whitehall]]. An alternate national command center has been maintained in a quarry complex near Box, Wiltshire. The above-ground support facility is RAF Rudloe Manor.
Service command centers are Northwood for the Royal Navy Trident SSBN force, and [[High Wycombe]] for the Royal Air Force.
==See also==
* [[Central Government War Headquarters]]
* [[Charles E. Allen#Continuity of Government|Charles E. Allen]]
* [[Civil Contingencies Secretariat]]
* [[Continuity of Operations Plan]]
* [[Critical Infrastructure Protection]]
* [[Designated survivor]]
* [[Disaster recovery]]
* [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]]
* [[Mount Weather]]
* [[National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive]]
* [[Shadow government]]
==External links==
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201410_pf.html Washington Post article - Back to the Bunker]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/01/attack/main502530.shtml CBS News Article - 'Shadow Government' News to Congress]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8622796487067551025 Video: COVER UP - Behind the Iran Contra Affair - Pt 3] specifically, also [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4755829652615170641 Pt 1] [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6363522851504883872 Pt 2]
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/capitalism/white-book-capitalism/usa/executive-orders.htm Summary of Executive Powers]
* [http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/118489654058910.xml&coll=7 Congressman DeFazio denied access to Continuity of Government files]
[[Category:Disaster preparedness in the United States]]
[[ro:Continuitate a guvernului]]